Energy Resource Recovery Facility

The I-95 Energy Resource Recovery Facility in Fairfax County is
privately owned and operated by Covanta Fairfax, Inc., a subsidiary of
Covanta Energy. Under contract to Fairfax County, the facility is
located adjacent to the I-95
Landfill Complex. The Energy Resource Recovery Facility is one of the
largest waste-to-energy facilities in the country. The facility has been
in operation since 1990.

Municipal solid waste serves as the fuel for the facility. Steam is
produced that turns turbines that can generate over 80MW of electricity.
The facility can process not only municipal solid waste, but also
such waste items as confidential documents, infested nursery plant
materials, old currency and other items that need assured destruction.

The facility is heavily regulated, subject to continuous emissions
monitoring, and required to report any exceedance of emission limits to
the issuing authority or Virginia
Department of Environmental Quality. The Solid Waste Management
Program oversees operation of the I-95 Energy Resource Recovery Facility
and is responsible for providing a minimum of 930,750 tons of waste to
the facility annually (a commitment referred to as the Guaranteed Annual
Tonnage). The initial term of this agreement ended in 2011, with a 5-year
extension until 2016.

Renewable Electricity Production:
By producing electricity using solid waste, the facility avoids both the
cost and emissions of using a fossil fuel to produce the electricity.
Since 1990, energy production by the plant has replaced the equivalent of
approximately two million barrels of crude oil per year.

How Waste Is Processed:
The following is a diagram of the energy recovery process,
highlighting the emissions control system.

Continuous emissions monitoring system continually checks emissions and
alerts if there are exceedances.

Solid waste enters the facility from collection vehicles that dump their
waste on the tip floor. The waste is picked up by cranes and deposited in
the four chutes and onto reciprocating grates that move the waste into
the combustors. The waste is tumbled and burned as fuel, heating the
boilers where steam is produced. The steam travels through pipes to the
turbines that generate the electricity.

Ash, gas and other products of burning continue through the facility,
where reagents such as lime, ammonia and carbon are introduced to
condition the ash by-product and clean the exhaust gases. The gases pass
through the baghouses (a collection of large fabric filters), where
particulate matter is filtered. The cleaned gases are emitted through the
stack. The ash is cooled then deposited onto conveyors and transported to
the ash building to await further processing that removes ferrous and
nonferrous metals.

Ash from the Fairfax facility is nonhazardous and is disposed in the ash
monofill of the I-95 Landfill
Complex.

Pollution Control:
Key stack emissions are continuously monitored for permit compliance.
Exhaust gas from the facility is also tested annually to ensure that
emissions do not exceed permit limits. Similarly, ash produced during the
combustion process is tested periodically for metals content, pH and
other factors. Finally, recovered water from the steam generating process
is recycled many times before it is treated and discharged into the sewer
system.

As indicated by the demanding set of permit limits and testing protocols
imposed by federal and state law, the plant is subject to rigorous
scrutiny by environmental protection agencies. As a result, Covanta
commits significant resources to reducing its impact on the environment

Solid Waste Management Plan Strategies:
Through the development of the county's Solid Waste Management Plan, a 20-year
plan for how the county will effectively manage the waste it generates,
the Board of Supervisors approved the strategy of continuing to use the
E/RRF beyond the end of the current service agreement.

Incineration Is Cool For The Climate:
The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), EPA, and the
Commonwealth of Virginia all recognize that waste incineration with
energy recovery is a key mitigation technology that reduces greenhouse
gases caused by processing of municipal solid waste.

The E/RRF makes some significant and specific contributions to Fairfax
County's efforts to remain a "cool county:"

Manages Fairfax County trash right here in our community, reducing the
need for fossil fuels to transport our waste to downstate landfills.

Handles Fairfax County waste disposal now, rather than creating a new
waste management legacy for the next generation.

Eliminates methane gas and other greenhouse gases on a ton for ton
basis.

Generates approximately 670 kilowatts of electricity for every ton of
trash burned, using a renewable fuel source.